The use of hand-held digging tools or chipping tools, such as pickaxes and mattocks, can pose risk of injury to a worker from flying debris which is thrown out from the blade of the tool head, especially when digging into hard materials like asphalt, cement, ice, hard pan, clay, gravel, roots and so forth. To protect the worker, particularly the face, neck and head area, shield attachments can be attached to the tool to intercept debris flying toward the worker, while still permitting use of the tool. Such shield attachments are also useful for protecting other persons and property in the vicinity of the worker.
Examples of previous shield attachments include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,236,968 to Mockel, U.S. Pat. No. 1,336,630 to Kirkpatrick and U.S. Pat. No. 1,358,206 to Higgins. In each of those cases, a shield portion is removably attached to the tool handle by an attaching structure positioned around the handle. In general, the attaching structure is positioned above the tool head, with the shield portion being positioned adjacent the underside of the handle and between the blade and the worker. The position of the attaching structure above the tool head, however, interferes with the ability of the worker to grip the full length of the handle adjacent the tool head during the initiation of the stroke, which is often desired for achieving maximum force when using the tool. Further, some prior art designs utilize wire as an attaching structure, which may not adequately secure the shield portion in place, while other designs require the use of clamps and tools to attach the shield portion.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for an improved shield attachment for hand-held digging tools.